It is well known that going to a nightclub and being exposed to 100 decibels for hours is not suitable for hearing health. In fact, any prolonged exposure to a sound that exceeds 80 decibels begins to be problematic. However, less is known that for the little ones the situation is much more delicate: the noise of cars on a day of traffic, the television playing in the background while the child is in the room or the sounds of some toys can affect forever to their hearing abilities. It is the alert launched by the American Academy of Pediatrics in a scientific review published in the journal Pediatrics. “Noise exposure is a significant public health problem that requires urgent attention. The effects on hearing and quality of life in the early stages can affect the life trajectory of children. A wake-up call needs to be made,” urges Dr. Brian Reilly, one of the authors of the report.
The risk in children is greater than in adults due to differences in the anatomy of the external ear. The smaller the channel, the greater the intensity at the highest frequencies: at birth, it is approximately six kilohertz, and decreases to three by the second year of life, when it equals the values of adults, according to one of the studies analyzed. The ear canal reaches adult size and orientation at about nine years of age, but the middle ear cavity does not reach adult size until adolescence. However, it is only at the age of 20 that the maturation of the auditory pathways and cortex is achieved, which means that up to what age young people are considerably more sensitive to loud sounds and susceptible to developing hearing loss or problems.
“Even small amounts of hearing loss can have profound and negative effects on speech, language comprehension, communication, classroom learning, and social development,” the report’s authors highlight. Another study published in the journal JAMA Otolaryngol It is estimated that one in six American teenagers has hearing problems. The authors recognize that it is necessary to further investigate the link between noise exposure and early hearing loss, although they insist on the need, on the part of pediatricians, to raise awareness of the mantra of prevention before cure. “At the end of the day, babies and young children are at the mercy of parents and caregivers to protect them from excessive and unnecessary levels of harmful noise. It is up to them to protect the hearing health of the little ones,” insists Reilly.
“It is the idea that is most difficult for us to convey to specialists, that the hearing we lose is impossible to recover, and that is why it is so important to avoid situations that can damage our hearing as much as possible,” explains Luis Lassaletta, president of the Otology commission of the Spanish Society of Otorhinolaryngology. The doctor, who has not participated in the study, regrets that there are no data in Spain regarding the incidence among children, although he emphasizes that in general the age at which problems begin is decreasing: “Hearing loss which was previously assumed to be at 70-80 years old, now begins at 50-60″.
Although the report was written taking into account the data on the situation in the United States, the recommendations and lines of research it proposes are applicable to Spain, according to pediatrician Gonzalo Pin, coordinator of the Sleep and Chronobiology Group of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics, which has not worked on the research. “It is a very interesting work because even though noise pollution is the little sister of light pollution, it is not given the same attention. Until the industrial revolution, the noises we had were thunder, storms and little else. The range of sounds we now have puts our hearing health to the ultimate test,” the doctor acknowledges.
Out of children’s control
One of the factors that most endangers the hearing health of young people is personal listening devices. “The use of headphones at excessively high volumes is incredibly common among children and adolescents. This is an important area that parents and pediatricians should focus on in regards to prevention efforts,” advises Pin. In fact, 23.8% of young people who use personal audio devices at high intensity or go to entertainment venues with loud music are at risk of suffering some type of deafness or hearing damage, according to a study in the journal British Medical Journal Global Health.
Many devices already have a built-in alert system that warns users that they are exceeding the recommended limit, or that provide a weekly report on the audio level of the headphones. You can even activate an option that allows you to reduce sounds that exceed 80 decibels, which many studies identify as the maximum intensity that the ear should withstand. “For me it comes down to the fact that if you have to take off your headphones to hear what your parents are trying to tell you, it means you have the volume too high,” Lassaletta exemplifies.
There are other factors that affect infants and school-aged children to a greater extent, and which the American Academy of Pediatrics analyzes in the report. The background noise of television, for example, can be disruptive for the little ones, especially when exposure is continuous and exceeds four hours a day. “It is important to remember that noise exposure not only includes intensity, but also duration and frequency must be considered,” the authors emphasize.
Attention must also be paid to academic environments: it is essential that measures are adapted to ensure that 35 decibels are not exceeded for at least 80% of the time. “Once you realize how loud places that are supposedly kid-friendly can be, it’s hard to ignore what your own ears are telling you: Too loud, please turn it down,” advises Reilly.
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